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Full Freeview on the BlaenPlwyf (Ceredigion, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.361,-4.103 or 52°21'38"N 4°6'10"Wsa_postcodeSY23 4QH

 

The symbol shows the location of the BlaenPlwyf (Ceredigion, Wales) transmitter which serves 17,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the BlaenPlwyf (Ceredigion, Wales) mast?

Blaenplwyf transmitter - Blaenplwyf transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the BlaenPlwyf transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)331mDTG-40,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)331mDTG-40,000W
Channel icons
5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Wales), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)331mDTG-40,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -6dB
C25 (506.0MHz)331mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -6dB
C22+ (482.2MHz)331mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -6dB
C28 (530.0MHz)331mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

The BlaenPlwyf (Ceredigion, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the BlaenPlwyf transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 113km south-southeast (149°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 115km south-southeast (151°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

How will the BlaenPlwyf (Ceredigion, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20102010-1331 Oct 2018
VHFA K TW TW TA K TA K T
C3BBCtvwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCBBBCB
C22+ArqAArqA
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C25SDNSDN
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C28ArqBArqB
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C56tv_offC5wavesC5waves

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 10 Feb 10 and 10 Mar 10.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-4dB) 40kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
Analogue 5(-14dB) 4kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-17dB) 2kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 1000W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Blaenplwyf transmitter area

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. BlaenPlwyf was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
I
ian
7:51 PM

I use the BlaenPlwyf transmitter but see that it is NOT providing Extended Freeview, given my location and the fact that the terrain and trees prevent me from considering FreeSat what are my options? Also should I pay less for my TV license?

link to this comment
ian's 4 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:26 PM

ian: If you'd provided a postcode, the reception guru's could have considered your options.

Its a pain that you can't get Freesat, etc, but frankly, its only due to the PSB channels providing a local transmitter (even if it does have the full channels) that you have any TV at all. The idea of paying less for fewer channels comes up a lot, but its the commercial channels who cant be bothered to pay to broadcast to you, so no, you cant get a reduction.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Thursday, 2 October 2014
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:15 AM

ian: By law a TV Licence is required to *view* any broadcast channels.

However, the TV Licence goes exclusively to the BBC and, as a Public Service Broadcaster, you have all BBC channels.

It is absurd to raise the question of paying a Public Service Broadcaster less because Commercial operators do not serve you. This is because Public Service Broadcasters have obligations as far as terrestrial coverage goes and the Commercials do not.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:20 AM

ian: As MikeB says, your postcode might give us an idea as to what your options are. On the basis of BlaenPlwyf's COMs being at lower power than the PSBs, in some cases it may be possible to receive the former with an amplifier or perhaps higher gain aerial.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
I
ian
10:08 AM

Thanks for your feedback. I was pretty sure i had included PC, perhaps that was a different forum. So her is PC SY233EU. Ian

link to this comment
ian's 4 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:48 PM

ian: I'm surprised. A terrain plot shows you can almost see the top the transmitter, were it not for the high ground just over a mile away:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Digital UK suggests that you might be in with a good shot, obstructions such as trees not being the fly in the ointment. Use a TV or box to test to see if the three COM muxes are there (you need one with manual tuning). For each one, select/enter the UHF channel number and wait - do not press the button to scan/add services immediately. Give the thing 10 seconds or so and see what readings for strength and quality you get (in this state the device operates as a poor man's signal meter). The UHF channels are: COM4 - ITV3 etc - C25 COM5 - Pick etc - C22 COM6 - 4music etc - C28 While you're at it, see what you get for PSB1 (BBC SD services) and PSB2 (ITV, S4C, C4, C5 etc) which are on C27 and C24 respectively.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:37 PM

ian : Purely out of curiosity, when you mention Freesat as not being an option for reasons of the terrain / trees etc, have you actually had this vetted as not being possible by a dish installer? or is it an assumption based on your personal opinion?

The only reason I ask, is because there are very few places in the UK where satellite reception is in reality, just not possible, as although a tree or some other obstacle might well be considered as being capable of blocking the signal to a dish, in many cases there are ways around this, as dishes can be mounted on the side of a chimney, on top of a pole, or alternatively on a tripod stand positioned at near to ground level, plus of course the signal hits the dish from above at an elevation of around 23 degrees or so, and not the horizontal direction the dish happens to be facing, which is always lower.

If of course you are located tight on the Northern side of a reasonably high Southern facing hill, then this type of situation is indeed most likely to be a no-go for satellite reception, although a view from above does not suggest that this applies, and the satellite signal plotter does "not" indicate a no-go situation at the location given.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:47 PM

ian : Update on that said. Unfortunately it would appear that a terrain problem does exist, as further checking using an another (and superior) sat signal plotter site indicates that an obstruction does exist in the form of the hill seen to the front of the property in question, the obstruction occurring at just under 50m from said property at a height of 21m.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 3 January 2015
G
Geraint Jenkins
6:01 PM

Hello can you tell me when HD on freeview will be available on BBC Two Wales and channel five From the transmitter in blaenplwyf.

Many Thanks.

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Geraint Jenkins's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:30 PM

Geraint Jenkins : Channel 5 was offered the capacity on PSB3 which is now occupied by BBC Three/CBBC, so the likely answer is "not any time soon".

As for BBC Two Wales in high definition, your best bet is to look to the BBC:

Nations HD Channels - BBC - FAQs - Home

It is the case that there is only one variant of BBC One HD on the terrestrial platform. The same applies for BBC Two. I imagine that when the time does come to change this that they are both likely to be done.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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